Various packing plants used in the production of packs or bundles of bars are known in the prior art. Said bars, that may have a different cross-section, are rolled before being cut and packed. One example of such a plant is described in Italian patent application UD95A000169. This document illustrates a system for delivering, reducing the speed of and unloading hot rolled bars onto the cooling bed. Said system, based on the use of two rotating drums with seats into which alternate bars are delivered, provides for a third channel-type device for delivering, reducing the speed of and unloading the bars, into which the last segment of the rolled bar, which is shorter than the previous segments, is delivered and then unloaded separately onto the cooling bed. A second example is described in document IT1231028. This patent describes a packing plant in which there is provided, downstream of a rotating shear for cutting the bars to the standard length, a device that slows down the cut bars and unloads these onto conveyors, said device comprising a plurality of drums mounted on a same shaft and arranged side by side and a short distance apart. The shaft is driven by a step motor and each drum has a plurality of chambers into which the cut bars are fed. Bar feed rollers and braking devices cooperate with the drums to unload the bars at the correct speed.
A third packing plant is described in document U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,594. In this case there is a single long rotating drum with retardation channels for the cut bars that are then unloaded onto the conveyor means.
The drawback of the systems known in the prior art is that they do not enable high speed packing of bars. Moreover, said systems are not very compact, which means they are expensive to produce. Finally, said systems do not allow for handling of shorter bar lengths, for example 6 m bars, which require much shorter cycle times.
These drawbacks have now been overcome with a new packing plant.